Industrial

Increased Warehouse Efficiency

In the past, warehouses may have been seen as a separate entity in the overall supply chain; merely as storage for merchandise until it was transported onto its final destination. But businesses are increasingly discovering the advantages of moving towards integrating the modern day warehouse into the greater supply chain, in order to reap the enhanced inventory management, greater loss prevention and shrinkage protection.

Radio frequency identification, or RFID, is one technology solution that has been increasingly incorporated throughout the supply chain for both security and inventory tracking. RFID tracks items within the warehouse and beyond, providing real time inventory updates. RFID tags communicate with readers, which can be fixed or handheld. By placing fixed readers in different locations within a warehouse, it is then possible to track the movement of goods, even when numerous products are located on a single pallet. By having greater awareness of inventory, businesses can then reduce products going out of stock, thereby increasing overall conversion and overall customer satisfaction.

By ‘source tagging’ during manufacture, complete accuracy on shipment orders can be achieved; ensuring the exact number of items received aligns with those ordered. It also means that merchandise arrives in stores with security labels already in place, which can be deactivated at point of sale, saving the retailer both time and employee resources.

Warehouse Access Control for People and Vehicles

Access control to the site perimeter should be achieved to physically control the flow of vehicles to and from the site. The choice of vehicular access control solution should be based on the amount of traffic expected, with access often needed for HGVs or forklifts in addition to staff and contractors. Access control should not inconvenience or slow down authorized access for vehicles.

In order to prohibit access to the warehouse from unauthorized persons, it is important to control movement within the warehouse. For any business, operational and commercial success is dependent on being able to mitigate security risks. This is certainly the case in warehouses, where highly valuable stock is an attractive prospect for criminals.

Smart Controls provides control systems that can be used to track product, protect secure entryways and enable access control. By tracking and protecting valuable product, not only are businesses mitigating unwanted loss and theft, but also creating an inventory monitoring avenue through which increased efficiency is gained.